love and war
by flowersandswords
Summary: Sasuke meets Sakura again after three long years and everything has changed.


_Run._

Sasuke ran as fast as his feet would carry him, a burning sensation crawled up his legs, spreading like wildfire, like venom from the fangs of a snake. With his mouth dry and his hands clenched tightly, he thought of nothing but getting the _fuck_ away from the enemy.

He knew his father would be rolling in his grave right about now. An Uchiha running away from a battle? It was unheard of. His family was not made up of cowards; valor was in their blood, running through their veins.

Sure, Sasuke was brave and cocky as hell when his pistol was fully loaded but he was out of ammo, out of luck and out of a damn squad to back him up. Everyone was gone, bullets lodged in their brains and he was the only one left to run like hell.

He could hear the bullets fly past him, slicing through the wind, a breath away from knocking him down, dead and cold.

They aimed to kill him. Of course they did. It was a war after all.

 _Run faster you fucking idiot,_ he screamed at himself. _Run faster, faster, faster_ because he felt the enemy behind him, their eyes like daggers in his back and to hell with his pride, to hell with his family's name, he wanted to _live_.

He could feel the blood pulsing into his veins, painfully loud in his ears. He could feel his heart explode with each beat, pounding against his ribs. His breathing was shallow, scorching like his lungs were set on fire and he was choking on the smoke.

In a desperate attempt to conceal himself, to buy himself some time, he jumped into nearby shrubbery. The cracking of their footsteps and the mangled language of the enemy was echoing behind him. There was no time to think, no time to catch his breath.

He felt it before he saw it.

A pain, sharp, like nothing he's ever felt before.

The metal bullet spun its way at him, tearing through layers of pale skin and the thick muscle of his shoulder.

Before he could even panic, before he could even scream, the second one came, faster than the first, cleaving through his bicep, hitting bone. There was a cracking sound, crumbling like a fallen city. He could hear it, loud and clear.

Black spots crowded his vision; a sick feeling churned in his stomach.

 _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

Sasuke could feel the weight of his blood, the warm, wetness of it soak his whole body. He could smell it, taste it on his tongue, a bitter metallic tang that spread down his throat. He could feel himself falling.

And how funny, he thinks that the very last thing he hears before he collapses is,

"I'll always love you, Sasuke."

And _shit._

It hurts more than the gaping holes in his shoulder.

* * *

Sasuke was eighteen the first time he killed another man.

He remembers it vividly, the way his finger trembled on the trigger, the way his gun jerked him back once he had fired.

He saw it all slowly, the metal bullet shot and cut straight through the air. It tore into the enemy's chest, slicing through his flesh, exploding into his beating heart.

There was a gasp, a desperate inhale of air and then he was down on the ground, twitching like a rabid animal.

Sasuke watched it, fear and guilt flooding into the core of his stomach but he couldn't look away.

"Good job, kid." There was a sudden, firm pat on his shoulder, "That's your first kill, huh?"

Sasuke slowly nodded, turning his head to meet the black eyes of his squad commander.

"The first one's always the hardest," He took his hand off Sasuke's shoulder and began to walk in front of him, leading the way to the next enemy base, "It'll be easier from now on."

And killing does get easier.

Sasuke began to feel invincible and in a way he was.

He was faster, smarter and much stronger than everyone else but it had always been like that for him. It goes to his head, makes him believe that he couldn't be touched, that no one could kill him.

But he was wrong.

* * *

There is a sudden stream of white light shining across his eyes and it blinds him.

Sasuke wonders momentarily, if he's dead, if the enemy shot a metal bullet right through his brain and killed him. He's numb, he can't feel his body, can't move his fingers or feel his own heart beat and it terrifies him.

He wasn't supposed to die, not yet.

 _Blink._

"He's losing too much blood!" A panicked voice booms into his eardrums, it rattles the bones under his skin.

 _Blink._

His vision comes back in blurry flashes, the image of frantic doctors and nurses crowd his line of sight, their white scrubs blind him like the light before. Panic swells in his stomach when he realizes where he is and he tries to muster all his remaining strength to escape. Soldiers are told that hospitals are worse than the battlefield, hospitals are graveyards for the men of the war.

Sasuke stretches his fingers in an attempt to grip _something, anything_ to get up and before he can even move, a sharp pain shoots into his shoulder. He feels it, pinching and stabbing into the muscles of his arm, dripping like rain into the length of his fingers.

It feels as though his flesh is tearing and he screams in agony.

"Hold him down!"

There is shouting from every corner and the sound is nauseating.

 _Blink._

Sasuke's eyelids feel so heavy, like the thickness of his lashes are weighing him down, begging him to fall back to sleep.

And before he can even close his eyes again, he feels the brushing of long, soft fingers against his neck. It's a sensation so familiar and so gentle that it makes his chest ache.

There is a slow tug on the chain around his neck, the chain that all soldiers are required to wear and the shrill clanking of his dog tags hitting each other ring through the air.

"Uchiha Sasuke," A soft voice breathes his name, "Oh my god."

He's heard this voice before, he knows it, he feels the tone and timbre of it in his chest.

And before he can even think another thought, the lull of sleep creeps into him.

* * *

Sasuke wakes to the warmth of sunlight pouring through the hospital window, the light stretches across his face.

He tilts his head to the direction of the window, squinting his dark eyes at the white brightness and to his surprise he sees the figure of a woman. She's standing with her back to him and she's opening the window, trying to let some fresh air into the room.

He's seen this figure before, his eyes follow the curved lines of her hips and he knows he's _held_ this woman before.

His eyes wander up her entire body and his heart stops when he sees her hair.

It's chopped short, shiny and pink like a cherry blossom petal. There is only one woman in the whole world that has hair like this and before he can string together the syllables of her name, she turns around. She's staring at him with those big green eyes and for the first time in a very long time, he wants to cry.

"It's been a long time, Sasuke."

* * *

a/n: it's been a really long time since i've actually sat down to write, everything i wrote before just didn't seem to flow right and i ended up deleting all of it, which was super frustrating for me, so im sorry to those of you that want an update to my other stories, im working on it but i decided to write something else to get back in my groove. i know that this first chapter is choppy but that's also kind of the point because sasuke gets injured and is going in and out of consciousness. it makes sense to me but not sure if it will make sense to my readers. anyways, let me know what you think so far in the reviews, if i should continue or just delete this lol i'll be updating my other stories soon! thanks for reading.


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